Foreign Voices in the House
A Century of Addresses to Canada’s Parliament by World Leaders
This unique book draws together for the first time in one place all speeches delivered by world leaders in the House of Commons at Ottawa, with rare photos of each president, monarch, or prime minister speaking to Canadians about our place in the world as they saw it. The insights and messages of more than sixty-five leaders cumulatively present fresh perspectives and reveal trends not otherwise seen.
Patrick Boyer, as an MP and Parliamentary Secretary for External Affairs, heard a dozen of these memorable addresses, becoming convinced these snapshots of Canada in the world over a century of tumultuous change constituted a national treasure needing to be preserved. His quest to find all the speeches unearthed a number long lost even to the public record. He not only brings an insider’s perspective to this special collection, but wrote biographies of each leader to accompany their speech and photographs.
From French Prime Minister René Viviani and British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour in 1917 to American President Barack Obama in 2016, this century’s worth of men and women who were at the summit of their careers in world affairs sought to forge new partnerships between their own countries and ours in a rapidly evolving global context. Across the decades, from Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt through Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Sukarno, Nehru, John F. Kennedy and Indira Ghandi to Nelson Mandela and Boris Yeltsin and Hamid Karzai, their speeches chart the continuing transformation of international affairs and Canada’s place in the world.
No other source captures this complete record of high-level oratory laced with pragmatic programs and urgent messages about world wars then underway, creating the United Nations, Cold War security, decolonization and modernization, advancing human rights, environmental conservation, and combating terrorism.
Endorsement
“This is a brilliant concept for a book. Patrick Boyer has made a valuable contribution to understanding the place of Canada in the world.” – R. Roy McMurtry, former Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
Details
Publisher: Dundurn, 2017
Category: Biography
ISBN: 9781459736856
Price: $35, Canada and U.S.A.
Format: Hardcover, 600 pages, 6 x 9 inches
Features: 80 photos of world leaders in the House of Commons, biographies of each